The problem is those doggone statistics. How does a guy convince anyone Indiana’s offense could be better when it already is the best? The Hoosiers rank No. 7 in shooting percentage, No. 3 in scoring, No. 1 in offensive efficiency.

On paper, on a computer screen, on a bar graph, what’s not to love about the IU offense? The NCAA Tournament is played on hardwood, though, so all those digits are of minor import when the Hoosiers take the floor. Those numbers represent what has been, perhaps what the team is capable of doing again, but past performance is not guarantee of future success.

“It’s just a matter of getting back to what’s important,” IU coach Tom Crean said.

No. 1 seed Indiana next faces No. 4 seed Syracuse in the East Region semifinals Thursday night at the Verizon Center. It’s possible facing the SU zone will force the Hoosiers to probe the defense to locate great shots.

Having played 35 games, won 29 of them and scored an average of 79 points along the way, Indiana has an offense widely acknowledged to be this season’s most potent. Five players average at least 9.5 points. Five players have made at least 20 3-point field goals. Only one of the team’s top seven players shoots below 75 percent from the foul line.

Through all of that, however, stretching all the way back toward the start of the season, IU has a tendency to force shots too early in its offense. Often that occurs after the starts build a comfortable lead from the jump and the first wave of substitutes enters.

In Sunday’s 56-52 victory over Temple in the NCAA Tournament round of 32, the Hoosiers surged to a 20-11 lead as the game opened. Then a series of missed IU shots and a couple of unfortunate turnovers allowed the Owls to close to a tie, and at that point the Hoosiers’ worst instincts took over.

All-American guard Victor Oladipo pulled up and fired a jumper off of a single pass, with the defense set beneath the goal. Then reserve wing Will Sheehey curled into the lane and shot a foul-line jumper off one pass and missed. Next time down, power forward Christian Watford took a feed on the wing, probed, bounced the ball and then elevated for a guarded jumpshot that missed.

The Hoosiers didn’t look like the nation’s No. 1 offense in that sequence.

When all that helped lead IU to enter the locker room in a 29-26 deficit, Crean let the players know emphatically – “I’m not anywhere near like I used to be with that” – their approach would not suffice if the goal was to continue in the tournament.

“We needed to keep the ball moving more offensively. That’s what it is,” Crean said. “We needed to play through the post. When we played through the post, we were doing great. The ball needs to move. We’re not a team that just comes down, settles in and ISOs. It’s got to be flying around. That’s when we’re at our best.

“We don’t recognize that no matter how we’re being defended, whether it’s backed off – and this is what happens with Wisconsin – and not as up into you, it’s still defense. Just move and cut. Worry more about what you do.”

Even when the Hoosiers were succeeding, as in their 83-59 November blowout of North Carolina, their need for greater patience in the offense was obvious. “Indiana is better when it’s patient,” we wrote after that game. It has been an elusive goal.

We talked with senior guard Jordan Hulls following a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal win over Illinois about the importance of putting stress on the opposing defense through ball movement, hard cuts, ball reversals.

“When we’re moving the ball, that’s when we’re at our best – staying in movement, not getting stuck,” Hulls said then. He cited the team’s film work, addressing why the team lost the games they did. “We’ve gotten a lot better from that.”

The following day, however, IU was caught in the same trap by Wisconsin and shot only 38.2 percent from the floor. Against Temple the percentage was 42.2 percent. The Hoosiers were better in the second half, 47.2 percent, but by that point they’d allowed the Owls to stay in the game and grow confident.

Not coincidentally, it was patient execution on the game’s most crucial play – Oladipo’s 3-pointer to make it a 4-point IU lead with 15 seconds left – that clinched the team’s advancement to the Sweet 16. With no 2-for-1 possession exchange really available, freshman point guard Yogi Ferrell entered the ball to Zeller deep in the shot-clock cycle, and as the defense began to shade inside he spotted Oladipo alone at the top of the key.

“When the game is in movement and we hit Cody in the post, people get open shots,” Oladipo said.

There’s that phrase again: In movement. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a coach’s catch phrase. That’s what Crean is stressing to his players. When they listen, they have the nation’s No. 1 offense. OK, let’s be honest, they have the nation’s No. 1 offense even when they don’t.

If they test it though, they might find that present turning to the past: from “have” the No. 1 offense to “had.” Whether they move on depends very much on whether they move the ball.